Safety of low-dose aprotinin in coronary artery bypass graft surgery: a single-centre investigation in 2,436 patients in Germany.

Background: The antifibrinolytic agent aprotinin is used to limit blood loss in cardiac surgery. In a recently performed multicentre observational study, the use of aprotinin was dose-dependently associated with a higher risk of renal failure and cardiovascular events.

Objective: Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of low-dose aprotinin (2 million kallikrein-inhibitor units) on safety variables in a large single-centre investigation in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.